Make sure you stand up when you fall over (you don't do as much damage laying down) and try to avoid being surrounded by your enemies (don't be afraid to back away from large groups, hacking as you retreat). When badly injured, try to get somewhere where you cannot be seen (in a house, behind a tree) and try to sneak away from the area. Fight with your highest weapon skill and with your strongest weapon (for example, a long sword is far more effective in the hands of a human than a short sword). With these in mind, melee fighters should not be very difficult to defeat as you generally start out stronger than the average soldier. However, there are always flukes as combat is random and with archers all odds are off; they can destroy ANY adventurer of any skill level; the only way to handle them is to return fire with hopefully more accurate and damaging projectiles or attempt to sneak in close and attack them (although at close range they STILL fire their weapons as opposed to trying to hit you with home, causing great damage). Getting merced by archers happens to everyone, but I'm surprised you are having trouble defeating run of the mill soldiers; what sort of weapon experience do you have when you fight them? If you're at least proficient you should have little trouble from my experience as long as you battle them one on one.